At home

I’ve been at home with the kids the past few weeks on a little break and wow!  They love having me here with them.  They can’t get enough of it.  The first week they were the best little kids ever!  Then this week – we had daylight savings!  OH!  It has never effected us before – but this time it is as if the kids lost 6 hours of sleep.  When really we’re suppose to gain an hour.  Ha!

One morning Jesse got up at 5:30am to go to work and came back and said… Mallory is awake already!  WHAT?!  He said he went to go close their door and she said, “Hi Momma… oh wait, Hi Daddy.”  He told her to go back to sleep.  I’ve been trying to get up at 5:45… however that morning there was no way I was getting up because if Mallory was already awake she would see me get up and then come out.  So I hid in my room and fell back asleep… for 5 minutes before I hear them BOTH in there giggling and talking!  They were at least happy, right?!  It is only 5:45am!!  Not gonna happen!  So I ignore them and I’m still hiding in my room.

They start yelling “mom”.  Max will yell “Mom” and then Mally will yell “Mom”.  It became a game for them.  I’m not moving!  I’m not saying a word.  They are going back to sleep.  : )  Literally a minute goes by of them yelling and finally Mallory yells “Momma?  Where are you?”  I giggled quietly and then yelled “SLEEPING”.  They stopped yelling for me and started talking to each other.  They yelled something else to me and I don’t remember what, but I remember my response was “It is not morning yet!”  Then it became silent in there for a long time… well it felt like a long time.  I was almost ready to sneak out and I see a light come on.  Max has turned their light on.  Now there is no going back!  They are up.  Mallory comes toddling out and finds me and says, “There is something on my ceiling” and she is naked in her pull-up only!  What happened to you pajamas?  “I got sweaty so I took them off.  There is something on my ceiling!  Come look!”  Ahhhh!  So up we got!  Sure enough a spider was on their ceiling.  But I couldn’t reach it – nor was I going to attempt to reach it.  : ) 

However, that morning they were in an excellent mood!  They were happily playing and I got out the camera.

Mallory working on her computer and doing her orders.  Think she has been out in the shop working with us before?  : )

I actually had to work this day – so we had a babysitter come and Mallory did not want to take a nap.  So I said that would be fine, just rest with her and watch a movie and maybe she will sleep.  hahahaha!  And then to top it off Max didn’t take much of a nap either!  So when I got home from work I had two very tired children!!

After much convincing I finally got them to play while I made a quick supper.  Mallory built a “microphone stander”. 

She dumped out all the toy bins to build this! 

We watched the CMA Awards together and she saw all them have mic stands.  That she had to have one.  Then when the singer would play the guitar she would get her guitar.

While I was trying to cook supper Max kept bring books for me to read and I would send him back to the living room with it and have Mallory read it to him.  She was more then willing to do that.  At one point I peek out at them and had to grab the camera!

Moments like these make up for all the fighting and screaming they do at each other!  : )

Button Rewards!!

I am very much not a morning person!  Mallory either!  It seemed that every morning it was a battle to get her dressed.  It was a battle to get her hair combed.  It was a battle to brush her teeth.  It wasn’t fun.  I dreaded it!  Every!  Single!  Day!

I smarted up and started looking for a chore chart.  The ones I were finding were way too big for her.  So I went back to scratch and made my own.  It is awesome!

We do not have morning battles anymore!  She actually asks now to get dressed!!  Who knew!  I need one less cup coffee each day!  ; )

Her chores:  Get dressed.  Get her hair combed.  Brush her teeth.  Listen Good.  Say her bible [Cubbie] verse.  Read by herself. 

I also got her hair cut which has helped with the hair issues!  I love her hair long because then we can do braids and pony tails – however she can’t stand that stuff.  Would rather have her hair down with nothing in it.  Keeping it short keeps the snarls at bay.

For each check mark she gets a button to put in her jar.  Then I thought up some things she could “buy” with her buttons.  Things that are very special to her right now.

Why buttons?  Because I had a mega supply of them from last years Christmas craft projects.

She has been working towards… Ellyn of course!  She wouldn’t cash in any buttons because she wanted a sleep over with Ellyn!  However, the other night she wanted to stay up late so bad… and she finally caved and cashed in 10 buttons to stay up and play games and eat Halloween candy.  : )

I just printed these off on a sheet paper and stuck them in two picture frames I had – I think I got them for a dollar at Kmart when Mallory was a baby.  Then I bought a dry ease marker and she checks it off on the glass and we can wipe it off and do it again the next day.  This way too when she gets bigger I can change out the chores and rewards.  Since my kitchen/dining room area is kind of smaller – I hung them in her room by her bed with a shelf above to hold the buttons and jar… high enough out of her reach that she can’t be giving herself buttons!  : )

Chore charts are awesome!  Mallory still gets excited about it!  Try one!

Music Constantly!

I know!  When did Maxwell turn into a little boy?  I think he did it over night!  : )  He seems to have just grown up lately!  He is talking up a storm!  He has even gone on the potty I think 4 times now since last week!!  Before we know it he will be riding dirt bikes around the yard!

Little Miss!  She is also growing rapidly too!  She no longer likes taking her picture either.

Max and I needed to play the piano for Mallory while she danced and sang. 

Then Max and I turned it to DJ Mode and she kicked us off and we had to sing and she got to play the piano.  She is very fussy about her music.

Maxwell listening to his big sister and singing on the [jump rope] microphone.

Every day at our house there is music playing!  Either Mallory is playing on the piano or she has the karaoke machine playing or she is requesting music on the TV (Pandora Radio).  Almost every morning the karaoke machine is going before 9am!  And almost every night after supper she plays the karaoke machine while we are cleaning up the kitchen.  Music!  Music!  Music!